After successful test, La Colombe cold-brewed coffee brand is rolling out nationally within Target chain, marketing exec Jon Spear told us last week. It's also hit all Ahold stores under various Giant banners and others. It's also undertaken its first buy-one, get-one promo at Harris Teeter chain in Southeast. And it's gone chainwide at Publix. HEB in Tex is currently rolling out brand. It's added Whole Foods divs in Northern and Southern Calif . . . Hiball organic energy brand and its Alta Palla sparkling fruit juice flanker continue to broaden presence, per cofounder Dan Craytor. It's moved into Ralph's chain in SoCal, backed by DSD partners Haralambos in LA and Lenore in San Diego, and also has recruited several Bud houses in Midwest, including Bill's in Wis, Capitol and Twin Cities. It's rolling out in all 7,200 CVS stores with its Hiball canned energy sku, as well as in 500 Kroger-operated c-stores dispersed among Midwest, South, Tex and Northeast. Hard-to-crack upscale Wegmans chain in Mid-Atlantic states has picked up 12-oz core Alta Palla line, and Whole Foods has taken 16-oz Sparkling Water extension. On foodservice side, where co works with Dot Foods, 150-unit Pieology pizza chain has picked up Alta Palla. And branded Hummer unveiled at Expo West has hit the road, as co for first time adds meaningful degree of marketing to program . . . Saratoga Juice Bar has launched its cold-pressed juices into Price Chopper/Market 32, regional grocer with 135 stores throughout New England. Meanwhile, high-end Wegmans chain is expanding Saratoga presence from 20 stores to 92 locations in five states, co said. And Hannaford Supermarkets, based in Maine, is increasing Saratoga presence from 5 locations to 45 . . . Avitae caffeinated waters have landed Acme grocery chain, which is taking on all 4 of its noncarb, flavored 90 mg sku's as well as unflavored 125 mg sku. The flavors are Blackberry, Tangerine, Pomegranate Acai and Strawberry Guava.

Distill Ventures, a bev-specific accelerator based in London which over its 4-year existence had been known to focus only on alc segment, has concluded it can no longer ignore NA side, at time "that many bars and restaurants are currently making non- or low-alcohol offerings like shrubs, drinking vinegars and kombucha in-house," per announcement. Co claims to have quietly invested in several NA brands among portfolio of 15+ founder-led bev brands into which it's invested more than £50 million ($70 mil) to date. Among them is botanical-infused, copper-pot-distilled "non-alcoholic spirit" called Seedlip in design-y bottle; it's not clear who others are, given Distill's circumspect approach in which it allows founders to determine whether or not to make the info public, tho video co has posted on Vimeo outlining opportunity also includes footage of pair of London brands, Square Root Soda ("small-batch sodas handmade in Hackney") and Dalston Cola ("Real Soda. "Honestly Made.") (The 5-minute film can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/222351752 ) As part of push, Distill Ventures is offering series of four £10,000 ($12,000) investments as part of a business development program for entrepreneurs keen to develop a brand in NA space. Video features high-end US and UK restaurants like Dishoom, which offers NA "copy tipples," and Dandelyan, which devotes 4 cocktails and coupla pages in menu to "Booze-less" offerings. Distill Ventures cofounder Frank Lampen says those creating new drinks in bars and restaurants who might need a little assistance or cash are welcome to apply. Info at DistillVentures.com.

Koia, plant-based protein play created by Four Loko cofounder Chris Hunter, is getting close to pulling in significant private-equity round from KarpReilly, several sources have told BBI over past week. Capital infusion, magnitude of which is unclear, would come as LA-based co has been hitting gas, most recently winning investment from NY-based food/bev accelerator AccelFood and reportedly recruiting KeVita founder Bill Moses as board member. KeVita, a KarpReilly investment, of course last fall enjoyed successful exit to PepsiCo. KarpReilly has been coming on strong in altbev space, acquiring acai and coconut water play Zola and investing in sparkling bev marketer Spindrift and functional bev line LifeAid. Cofounder/ceo Hunter had founded Four Loko marketer Phusion Projects with Jaisen Freeman and Jeff Wright, and it has proved durable ride, weathering furor over caffeine/alcohol combo by dropping caffeine from recipe and continuing on growth trajectory. While Four Loko has drawn its share of detractors, Koia seeks to play on the side of the angels, parlaying eco-friendly rice, hemp and pea protein into 12-oz bevs boasting 16 g of protein, much in way other protein plays like Ripple seek to wean consumers away from more ecologically stressful animal protein. No immediate response from Chris to query about potential investment.

Savannah, Ga-based Yaupon Wellness Co has brought in 25-year natural foods exec Scott Silverman as prexy/coo, as it prepares to commercialize its RTD line employing yaupon, member of holly family that's only native American plant with caffeine. Silverman is coming off 4 years at KeHE Distributors, where he most recently served as vp for retail growth solutions and proprietary brands. Earlier he had served at Tesco's aborted Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market foray into US and as category dir for specialty, natural and organic items at Winn-Dixie chain. Scott's also got entrepreneurial experience, having launched Scotty's Naturals, non-dairy food/bev play out of Boulder, Colo, where he's based. He joins team consisting of founder and former rice trader Lou Thomann and investor/cfo Mike Ventling . . . In wake of recent passing of stevia pioneer Jim May, Wisdom Natural Brands has elevated Jim's son, Michael May, to prexy's post, after younger man served as evp/coo at Gilbert, Ariz, marketer of all-natural sweeteners under Wisdom brand and Wisdom of the Ancients functional bevs.

During q&a session at Monster Beverage's annual meeting yesterday, Wall St crowd reserved quite a few questions for coupla big items on innovation agenda, Mutant CSD and Hydro hydration line, that have gotten off to slow start within Coke bottling system. MNST ceo Rodney Sacks cited progress on both, and made strong case that, even in sluggish early stages, Mutant already may be accomplishing strategic objective of putting a dent in rival Mountain Dew. That's something KO has tried many times in past, recall, never with even a modicum of success.

BBI's sibling publication, Insights Express, which focuses on beer sector, recently got rare opportunity to talk to extremely active behind-scenes dealmaker: Anheuser-Busch InBev's chief disruptive growth officer, Pedro Earp. As reported here before, ABI's Zx Ventures has been making accelerating array of intriguing and controversial investments, from Owl's Brew tea-based mixers and GoLive probiotic bevs on NA side to Northern Brewer homebrew supplier, Kombrewcha low-alc kombucha and Rate Beer site. Pedro and his team basically are tasked with searching out what's next and investing in it in early stages. Zx also is responsible for all of ABI's international craft deals (in Italy, China, UK, etc) and for ABI's intl brewpubs. With all its int'l craft deals, including brewpub expansions of Goose Island, Zx works "very closely" with US unit the High End and there's "absolutely" cross pollination. Indeed, key learnings familiar: keeping founder on board is "must have" that can "make or break the success of the investment," Pedro said. Finding co with "ability to create best [new] products" also key. Recent investment in beer rating site Rate Beer created a storm of criticism, partly because it wasn't disclosed for many months. Tho private equity often doesn't disclose minority investments, "we should have anticipated the controversy" and disclosed stake sooner, Earp said. Through its many investments, most of them small for a co of ABI's scale, it's hoping to find something that "can be massive in the future," said Pedro.

Zola Fruits of the World has gone live with results of painstaking research push undertaken since its acquisition in Jan 2016 by KarpReilly, bleeding new packaging look onto retail shelves and hitting button on revamped LiveZola.com website. It caps active year in which reinvigorated SF-based marketer of acai and coconut water bevs founded by ceo Chris Cuvelier has revamped recipes and brought on essentially new senior team, comprised of execs who'd served at brands like Gallo, Harmless Harvest, Mamma Chia and Clorox. Tho co isn't ready to talk about it yet, innovation push soon will move co into plant-based energy segment with green coffee-powered energy line, according to BBI contacts who've apparently gleaned info from retailers pitched on concept.

It's actually spending less this summer, but suddenly, Honest Tea imagery seems more in-your-face than in past thanks to new media buying approach that's getting brand's creative into more democratic urban settings, and more often putting Honest Tea and Honest Kids creative side by side. Campaign is unfolding in key NY market as well as in markets like Denver and Boston where key retailers are lookin' to rev up velocities this summer.